A lot of guys are non-tendered with the understanding they will re-sign with their team in a restructured contract. Let's not get too excited about any particular guy until the dust settles in the next week.

After the offensive season Wigginton had though Denny, I doubt he's one of those guys..... he'll no doubt shop himself to the highest bidder and likely just jumped ahead of Crede as the most attractive 3Bman on the market.

You could be right but why would Houston let a guy with his numbers go? I'll wait and see. As far as playing the what-might-be-under-our-Christmas-tree game, note that the Marlins non-tendered Joe Nelson who had great relief numbers and the Dodgers non-tendered Saito and Brazoban. What this does is make the trade market for any of our relievers or relief prospects not as good.

Last edited by dnosco on Sat Dec 13, 2008 10:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

The Astros are in the process of lowering their payroll from a projected $120 million to about $100 million. They non-tendered Ty Wigginton earlier Friday evening, clearing some payroll space.

The current fragile economy has many teams in modes of uncertainty, including the Astros. Until that shifts and the picture becomes more stable, the Astros are unlikely to make a shopping splash this offseason.

"With the uncertainty of the economic situation in our country today, we don't know where our revenues will be," McLane said. "Every team is going through the same thing, except the Yankees and Red Sox."

yeah wigginton had to be all about payroll, with them taking valverde off the block, and no one seeming to bite on wigginton they had little choice but a non tender. And why woudl any player in his right mind who is non tendered take a lesser deal with a club. They are FA they wont just take less money to be nice after a team esstionally cut them because they arent worth what they where projected to make

jellis wrote:yeah wigginton had to be all about payroll, with them taking valverde off the block, and no one seeming to bite on wigginton they had little choice but a non tender. And why woudl any player in his right mind who is non tendered take a lesser deal with a club. They are FA they wont just take less money to be nice after a team esstionally cut them because they arent worth what they where projected to make

Not real sure I agree with the financial conclusion here Jellis. What makes sense may not be actuality. I still have to overcome the feeling that Wigginton is more a valuable utility player than an everyday 3B. Not as good as Casey in that regard but likely too rich for the Astros in this market.

I read that Wigginton wants a 2yr deal and possibly 3yr (same as Blake). If you could get him for 1 year he'd be a great fit.....2 wouldn't be bad depending on price. But I wouldn't go 3. The weak 3B market will really help him out plus his versatility.

Looks like we are interested. I hope we stay away from Taveras, his obp is just horrible and we really don't need a mediocre outfielder to further clog things up. If we do sign Wigginton, I would prefer a one-year deal with a team option at most. He is basically another Casey Blake, so he should only be viewed as a one-year stopgap.

Looks like we are interested. I hope we stay away from Taveras, his obp is just horrible and we really don't need a mediocre outfielder to further clog things up. If we do sign Wigginton, I would prefer a one-year deal with a team option at most. He is basically another Casey Blake, so he should only be viewed as a one-year stopgap.

I'd much rather sign Grudzielanek to a 1-year deal and move Jhonny to 3rd (which seems to be his future anyway, so why wait). Wigginton isn't that bad, but he's far from ideal. His home road splits are also a concern

Looks like we are interested. I hope we stay away from Taveras, his obp is just horrible and we really don't need a mediocre outfielder to further clog things up. If we do sign Wigginton, I would prefer a one-year deal with a team option at most. He is basically another Casey Blake, so he should only be viewed as a one-year stopgap.

I'd take Taveras if the price is right (though not sure why we'd need 5 outfielders). Had a nice OBP 2 years ago and there is no question about his speed. Not an ideal LFer though and with Brantley and Crowe in AAA he's not really 'needed'....

Hermie13 wrote:That is a huge difference....but check out Grady's home/road splits from this year:

Home: 1.055 OPSRoad: .699 OPS

Nearly as big a difference.

Some guys just hit much better at home. Minute Maid isn't 'that' big of a hitters park (though a bit more than Cleveland)....

Minute Maid really inflates homeruns and doubles, and I can only imagine righthanded hitters taking advantage of that small left field. Our ballpark is much more neutral.

I'm not saying that Wigginton only had good numbers because of Minute Maid, because he hit well with Tampa, but he's cashing in on the best season of his career which came in a hitters park in the NL, so I wouldn't bet on him putting up another .850+ OPS.

Minute Maid does have a shorter LF fence distance....but CF is much further down there. RF is basically the same as well.

Wigginton also isn't a dead pull hitter. 6 of his 15 HRs (amount at Minute Maid) were to Right Field at Minute Maid compared to 6 to the shorter LF fence (2 to Left-center and one to the VERY deep CF).

Also, didn't even have 400 at-bats and hit 23 HRs.....and only had 2 through the end of May. Hit 21 HRs in the last 4 months of the season.

Wiggington would be an interesting name in a different year. With the projected drop in revenue, I don't see the Indians committing 2 years and big $ to a 3B. I think they might look for a stop gap solution in the IF, and committ the $ to a SP in maybe a Shoppach trade.